Death knell: Age of Conan server merging imminent

Often the death knell of an MMORPG, server consolidation is in the works for …

Now that Warhammer Online is bustling, it seems that EA Mythic has managed to carve its own niche out of the World of WarCraft pie. Unfortunately, not all of the big 2008 MMOs were as lucky. Age of Conan had a rough ride just after its launch earlier this year, and it seems that the death knell is sounding. Funcom has announced that it's going to be consolidating servers to smooth out the increasingly apparent population issues.

With active subscriptions at 415,000, Conan isn't entirely dead yet even if the active players continue to dwindle. Nevertheless, newfound game director Craig Morrison confirmed that server merging was imminent. "We are actively working on an approach to merge servers, both in Europe and North America," said Morrison on the game's official forums. "It's important for us to ensure the best gameplay experience for you all, and more healthy populations on each and every server will make sure we maintain healthy communities for the game in the future."

Following the numerous PR blunders and community managing disasters, Age of Conan has suffered a fate that it might have avoided. The beginning of the game was a well-crafted, impressive affair, but sadly the leadership of the game's former director drove the title into the ground. The game's new director seems to be more aware of what the player-base wants, but this may be a case of too little, too late.